Advent Calendar & Info
Sunday was the first Sunday of Advent, officially starting the season of spiritual preparation for Christmas. Go to this link for an Advent calendar and other related information.

Thanksgiving
A special day to give thanks to God for all His gifts to us. Have a good time with family and friends and don't eat any more than I would. ;-)

Space Happenings
It's been a busy week of space developments, including Europe's SMART-1 arriving in lunar orbit, the successful X43A scramjet test and the launch of the 'Swift' gamma ray burst observatory.

Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, Congress has provided NASA with funding almost matching the President's request, affirming the long term exploration goals. Also, the House has passed a re-incarnated Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act of 2004. Senate action is still required.

Finally, the Old Media sources sometimes do get it right, as with Time Magazine's plan to designate SpaceShipOne as 'Invention of the Year'.

The Specter Saga
Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee seem ready to support Senator Arlen Specter as Judiciary Committee Chairman, despite vigorous opposition from conservatives. I have been reminded, however, that the formal vote won't take place until January, which means it is possible a sustained grassroots campaign and/or another misstatement by Senator Specter could cause the current likely succession to unravel.

Senator Specter is a pro-abortion advocate who opposed President Reagan's nomination of Robert Bork for the Supreme Court, although he did support the Clarence Thomas nomination and opposed Democrat filibusters of President Bush's recent nominees.

It is hard to say at this point whether Senator Specter will remain faithful to his pledge to bring the Preident's future nominees to the floor. However, it shows how much the ground has shifted on the abortion issue that Specter, at least publicly, now refers to 'prolife' nominees. Back in the Nineties, Specter used inflammatory language such as 'anti-choice' and 'intolerant right' in his 1996 announcement of an unsuccessful presidential bid. The fact that a pro-abortion advocate feels compelled to make this shift in language is encouraging indeed.

"...a new and more creative future"
Michael Novak describes the US Election outcome's impact far from home.

What I conclude after this visit, more powerfully than ever, is that important new currents so visible in the victory of George W. Bush are also beginning to affect very distant places, and that great spiritual changes are beginning to display their first sprouts: a profoundly new vision of our own secular history, more open to religion than formerly; a new attention to the family and to the traditional morality on which its health depends; and a rethinking of fundamental economic principles concerning taxation, state power, and welfare programs. The notion is also gaining traction that the ideas of the Left belong to the 1950s, if not earlier, while those of Bush and others like him point to a new and more creative future.

The Real Loser
Not only did the Democratic Party lose big in this election, but in her always eloquent way, Peggy Noonan points out the self-inflicted loss suffered by the Old Media:

Every time the big networks and big broadsheet national newspapers tried to pull off a bit of pro-liberal mischief--CBS and the fabricated Bush National Guard documents, the New York Times and bombgate, CBS's "60 Minutes" attempting to coordinate the breaking of bombgate on the Sunday before the election--the yeomen of the blogosphere and AM radio and the Internet took them down. It was to me a great historical development in the history of politics in America. It was Agincourt. It was the yeomen of King Harry taking down the French aristocracy with new technology and rough guts. God bless the pajama-clad yeomen of America.

Glenn Reynolds also weighs in on the declining influence of the Old Media:

What the Big Media have lost is the ability to make people dismiss out of hand ideas that haven't been vetted by the Powers That Be. They've lost the ability to set the agenda in both a positive and a negative sense, to decide which ideas, and which stories, are on the table, and which are not.

Haunting Specter
Conservatives concerned about the role Senator Arlen Specter would play as Judiciary Committee Chairman on judicial nominations are campaigning on the Internet to urge the Republican Senators to select another choice. See continuing updates on this effort also at The Corner.

Catching Up on Life after Politics
Time to clean house and get other things done. Also time to catch up on what else has been going on in the Solar System, for instance the exploration by the Mars Rovers and the Cassini-Huygens craft orbiting Saturn.

On to the Future
With a gracious concession speech by John Kerry, a magnanimous victory speech by George W. Bush and significant changes in Congress, the hard fought 2004 election campaign is over. A few quick thoughts:

-Many citizens on both sides became active and poured their hearts into this campaign and a record number of voters turned out. If this energy is sustained and channeled constructively, the nation will benefit immensely.

-The immense amount of vitriol directed toward President Bush by some in the Democratic Party and other interest groups (MoveOn.org, entertainment celebreties, etc.) was not rewarded with success, but with rejection. This outcome is also healthy for the nation.

-Terrorists and tyrants around the world are dealing with the prospect of facing W's courageous leadership in the world for the coming years.

-The ascendancy of 'Lifestyle Choice uber alles' is over. The prominence of life issues, the status of marriage and other social issues should cause the Democratic Party to rethink its blind obedience to Planned Parenthood's and NARAL's hardline pro-abortion agenda. The party could start by being open to a significant part of its own members who have been excluded from leadership in the Party.

-The blatant bias and manipulation of information by parts of the Old Media (NY Times, CBS, etc.), and the resulting role played by the New/Alt Media (bloggers, talk radio, Fox News etc.) will be a continuing story well beyond this election year.

-W's re-election and the Republican gains in Congress open the door to significant economic initiatives including fundamental reform of the tax system, litigation reform, etc.

-The Vision for Space Exploration will go forward. This doesn't mean the Administration and Congress will give NASA a blank check. The need to control federal spending will spur an emphasis on innovation and commercial solutions where-ever practical which will only enhance the opening of the frontier.

Decision Time
I've been busy the last few days with my discretionary time, with precinct calling, county campaign activities and a little volunteer time in DC with National Right to Life and the RNC to help influence the swing states. Tonight I'll be working some final details and resting up for a busy day tomorrow at my precinct polling place, so I'll keep my endorsement (which should already be obvious) short and sweet.

I'm supporting the re-election of George W. Bush because of his positive record and proposals on the interconnecting themes of a Culture of Life, National Security and the War on Terrorism, economic opportunity, the Vision for Space Exploration, etc. His opponent, Senator John Kerry offers vague and contradictory statements ('Flip-Flop') and a Senate record of bad choices on a range of issues.

Beyond the issues, defying the irrational vitriol and outright hatred against the President for his persistence in making and sticking with courageous decisions that often defy the conventional 'wisdom' is a significant reason in itself to vote for his re-election. The fact that some people despise George W. Bush for his strong Faith in God is shows that they fear the power he gains from it.

So get out there and vote for W and encourage others to do likewise. And pray that God take care of our nation, its leaders and its people.

Closing on the Finish, and things only get stranger...
...(and perhaps more ominous). Recent days have been filled with reports and clashing statements about voter fraud and/or intimidation and the when-and-whereabouts of explosives in Iraq. Now, the one person most hostile to our country and the civilized world weighs in (from Drudge archive snapshot).

Celestial Happenings


False color ultraviolet and infrared image of Titan NASA

With my obvious focus on politics right now, it's sometimes difficult to keep up on all the space news. But I don't want to overlook Cassini's close approach to Saturn's moon Titan. Also, don't forget tonight's total lunar eclipse.

Election Intensity
Blogging's been more sporadic as I've been working at the precinct level and in other ways for W's re-election and the election of other good people.

Meanwhile, surprise , surprise, the Washington Post has endorsed John Kerry.While the Post does attempt to list strengths and weaknesses of both candidates, the endorsement seems to be based on an overly expansive assessment of President Bush's shortcomings and wishful thinking on Senator Kerry's promises. Interestingly, the Post also published today, an article by Bob Woodward on 22 questions he'd like to ask John Kerry on Iraq (but which the Senator has not gotten around to answering).

Finally, if your stomach and your blood pressure will allow you to continue to follow the seemingly wild gyrations in polls and prognostications, a few good sources include RealClearPolitics, National Review Online's Battlegrounders and NewsMax.

Terri Schindler-Schiavo still in danger
Rulings by the Florida State Supreme Court and a local judge go against the fight for Terri's life. Furthers actions to save her life could include an appeal by Florida Governor Jeb Bush to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The times, they are a changin'.
Time magazine poll gives W slight edge, and reports that a majority of Americans are prolife.

Dems advocate pre-emptive war...
..., not against terrorists and tyrants, but against their political opponents at home, according to the Drudge Report on Thursday.

ISS crew handover is underway...
...following some tense moments during the docking sequence of the Soyuz spacecraft carrying the new crew to the station.

The Great Space Debate
Thursday, the morning after the final presidential debate between President Bush and Senator Kerry, I attended a forum where two prominent members of the space community in DC spoke for their respective candidates on the topic of space policy (which, not surprisingly, was not discussed during any of the candidates' debates). More details from Jeff Foust and Keith Cowing.

Space Frontier Conference Trip
Returned Sunday evening from Space Frontier Conference 13 in Long Beach, CA. The conference covered activities and plans in cutting edge entrepreneurial space ventures. Philosophical and spiritual aspects of the space settlement vision were also discussed.

Noteworthy topics include the volatile status of the Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act of 2004, designed to smooth the regulatory environment for the suborbital spaceflight industry. Congress has just recessed until after the November elections, but is expected to return for a 'lameduck' session. Stay tuned to space news sources such as HobbySpace RLV News for developments and citizen action items.

The now historic Ansari X-Prize is planned to be followed up by an exciting X-Prize Cup tournament to be held yearly in New Mexico, according to Bill Gaubatz, representing New Mexico's state space business efforts.

The highlight of the conference at Saturday night's banquet was Scaled Composite's Burt Rutan, famed designer of SpaceShipOne which claimed the X-Prize last Monday. Mr. Rutan received the Space Frontier Foundation's coveted Vision to Reality award on behalf of the SpaceShipOne team, and generously spent nearly 2 hours explaining the project, showing videos and answering questions.

The conference venue was the majestic Queen Mary. The ship which now serves as a hotel, conference center and tourist attraction has a proud history both as a civilian luxury liner and as a troop transport on which many thousands of Allied troops, including my father, sailed on during their service in World War II.

The Prize is Won!
Forty seven years to the day after Sputnik 1 signaled the dawn of the Space Age, a new kind of space age is underway. SpaceShipOne, with test pilot, now astronaut Brian Binnie at the controls, soared past the 100 km (~62 mi) required altitude for the second time in five days and claimed the $10 million Ansari X-Prize.


Ansari X-Prize, via Space.com
SpaceShipOne rockets into space...


Ansari X-Prize, via Space.com
...and returns safely to Earth (accompanied by chase plane) to claim the X-Prize.

The prize-winning flights are seen as heralding a new age of commercial space travel opening space to many beyond the traditional government astronauts and opening the resources of space to the benefit of present and future generations of people. Read more detail in additional articles from New Scientist and SpaceflightNow.

While the prize will be formally provided to the SpaceShipOne team in early November, designer Burt Rutan will accept an award on the team's behalf this coming Saturday evening at the annual conference of the Space Frontier Foundation on the Queen Mary in Long Beach, CA.